COMP SCI 1015 - Introduction to Applied Programming

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2023

This course is designed for students with no prior programming experience, who are enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Technology. The course introduces the fundamental concepts of procedural programming, with a focus on approaches to programming relevant for IT, including scripting languages. Topics include algorithms and problem solving, data types, control structures, functions, arrays, files, and the mechanics of running, testing, and debugging. The course also offers an introduction to the ethical, historical and social context of computing.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code COMP SCI 1015
    Course Introduction to Applied Programming
    Coordinating Unit Computer Science
    Term Semester 1
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 10 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange N
    Incompatible COMP SCI 1008, COMP SCI 1101, COMP SCI 1201, COMP SCI 2202, COMP SCI 2202A, ENG 1002, ENG 1003
    Restrictions Not suitable for BCompSc, B(Adv)Comp Sc, BMaCompSc, or BEng students
    Assessment Written assessment, programming practicals, practical examinations, presentations, in-class and on-line quizzes
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Mr Arie Bennett

    Lecturer, Course Coordinator: Mr. Arie Bennett
    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
    1 Design algorithms to solve simple problems
    2 Use those algorithms in an interactive programming environment
    3 Demonstrate the ability to correct, test and debug programs
    4 Explain how algorithms and programs work
    The above course learning outcomes are aligned with the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standard for the Professional Engineer.
    The course is designed to develop the following Elements of Competency: 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.1 2.2 2.3 3.2 3.3 3.6
    University Graduate Attributes

    This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

    University Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s)

    Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth

    Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.

    1-4

    Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving

    Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.

    1-4

    Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills

    Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.

    4

    Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness

    Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.

    3,4
  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    There is no required text book for this course. All materials will be provided through the University's Learning Management System, MyUni.
    Recommended Resources
    There is a significant number of outstanding Python resources online that are readily available in the form of textbooks, tutorials, and videos that are available for free. To enhance your comprehension and grasp of challenging concepts, we have curated a collection of the best free resources and provide links to them through MyUni.

    Our preferred textbooks for students is "Think Python 2e" authored by Allen B. Downey, which is freely accessible online.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    This course has three contact activities: lectures, workshops and practicals. Each of these activities is used to support and build on each other.

    Lectures: Weekly delivery of new material and are paired with an associated quiz. Remote options are provided as all lectures are livestreamed and recorded through Echo360.

    Workshop sessions: Interactive sessions with your tutor where you will be presented with new material and/or exercises that you will complete and submit in the session. Workshops are designed to give you access to practical problems and work with your tutor available to identify any misconceptions or confusion. The sessions also allow us to check student performance and if we need to empthasize certain ideas more.

    Practical sessions: Weekly practical assignments are provided most weeks. Students are expected to attempt these before coming to their practical session. In the session we will check your understanding with a short interview. Tutors are also available for support in this time.
    Workload

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

    Students are expected to spend approximately 10 hours per week on this course. There will be 5-6 hours contact time for learning and teaching activities and students will be working 3-4 hours to carry out the required learning and teaching activities for acquiring the expected knowledge, understanding, and skills in this course.
    Learning Activities Summary
    The topics covered will include:
    • Building your first program (Hello World!)
    • Variables & inputs
    • Fuctions
    • Conditions & iteration
    • Lists & iteration
    • Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
    • Working with files
    • Dictionaries & tuples
    • Immutability, pythonic way
    • Code quality & testing
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    Assessment Task Task Type Due Weighting Learning Outcome
    Lecture Quizzes Summative

    Weekly

    5% 4
    Workshop Assignments Summative At the end of weekly scheduled workshop sessions 5% 1,2,3,4
    Practical Assignments Summative Weekly 20% 1,2,3,4
    Individual coding assignments Summative Weeks 4,7,10,13 30% 1,2,3,4
    Practical exams Summative Weeks 6, 12 40% 1,2,3

    Assessment Detail
    Quizzes: There will be weekly quizzes on the MyUni system. Lecture quizzes are designed to check that you have understood the basics of the week's materials presented in the lecture before you attend your workshop. There are 10 lecture quizzes during the course, with no quiz taking place during weeks 6 and 12.

    Workshop Assignments: During your workshop session, you will complete a series of workshop activities. These activities are designed to be practise the material introduced in the lecture. As the goal of these workshops is to get you thinking about the material and practise your coding, we mark these assessments manually and may offer partial marks if you fail the autograder. For the same reason, you can complete these practice activities alone or in pairs, but you must submit the submission exercise alone.

    Practical Assignments: Practical exercises are your opportunity to demonstrate your understanding over that week's material. Some questions are purposely designed as a step-up from the workshop material to give you an opportunity to demonstrate mastery over
    the material. You must work individually on practicals.

    Coding Assignments: You will have 4 individual coding assignments. These are designed to be more challenging assessments as you have 2-3 weeks to complete them. In these assessments, you will be able to combine your understanding of multiple topics together to form useful programs.

    Practical Examinations: During weeks 6 and 12, you have your practical exams. These will take place during your regularly scheduled practical session. You must attend these sessions. Failure to do so will earn you a zero.

    Submission
    Students will submit their code to Gradescope where it will be marked by  their tutor and/or automatically using an auto-grader depending on the assessment (students are taught how to use this system in the course). Quizzes will be automatically marked in MyUni.

    Late Penalties
    Failure to submit an assessment item on time or by the agreed extension deadline will result in penalties. For each day or part-day that a programming assignment is late, the maximum mark that can be awarded is reduced by 25%.

    Extensions
    Any request for an extension of time for the submission of an assessment item should be made well before the due date to the Course Coordinator. Normally, extensions will only be granted for a maximum of two weeks from the original assignment submission date. Extensions will only be granted in cases of genuine extenuating circumstances and evidence, such as a medical certificate, must be provided.
    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

    The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

  • Student Support
  • Policies & Guidelines
  • Fraud Awareness

    Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.